September 23, 2024 • 12 mins
The concept of racial passing is where individuals from one racial group are perceived or pass as members of another racial group. Historically prevalent in the United States, racial passing often involved Black or multiracial individuals assimilating into the white majority to navigate societal barriers like harsh racial segregation and discrimination.
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Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_(racial_identity) https://history.stanford.edu/publications/chosen-exile-history-racial-passing-american-life https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/t-magazine/passing-nella-larsen-brit-bennett.html
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/one-mic-black-history--4557850/support.
Audio Onemichistory.com
Follow me on Instagram: @onemic_history
Follow me on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@onemic_history
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Onemichistory
Please support our Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=25697914
Buy me a Coffee
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Countryboi2m
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_(racial_identity) https://history.stanford.edu/publications/chosen-exile-history-racial-passing-american-life https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/t-magazine/passing-nella-larsen-brit-bennett.html
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/one-mic-black-history--4557850/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Imagine your standing in the swelt during heat nineteen forties Alabama,
traveling hundreds of miles to your brother's wedding, you all
met with severe racism, only to later return donning a
turban and adopting an accent. Suddenly you transformed from a
pressed black man to a South Asian Indian who has
(00:22):
suddenly treated with some respect and courtesy. This was the
reality of Breverend Jesse Roulay. His story was wildly publicized
and even included on a front page of The New
York Times. In November nineteen forty seven, The Lotus Lewis,
a Harlem Renaissance writer and editor, pointed out the irony
(00:42):
of Roulay's experiment in the Interracial Review. It highlighted the
folly and the injustice of racial discrimination. See, it wasn't
that long ago that the shade of your skin could
dictate your entire life trajectory. So many black of brown
individuals had European fees, features such as the noses, lighter hair,
(01:03):
lighter skin, or straightened hair would make the decision to
pass themselves as white. And today we're going to talk
about it. You like stories like this, You can buy
more stories like this at one michistory dot com. If
you like what the challenge, you can do some on
by a coffee Patreon page and the description below. But
what I further do? Let's get started. Racial passing occurs
(01:23):
when a person who is classified as a member of
a racial group is accepted or passes as a member
of another racial group. Historically, the term was used primarily
in the United States to describe a black or brown
person of multi racial ancestry who assimilated into the white
majority to escape legal and social conventions of racial discrimination.
(01:45):
But it was never as simple as simply proclaiming your whiteness.
It meant renouncing your hair, that completely breaking away from
your family, your community, your cultural identity, all in exchange
for the opportunities that you could never sniff other Yet
you will constantly live in fear that one day you
would be exposed discovered. It could mean violence, legal trouble,
(02:08):
and social ostracization. Stanford historian Alison Hobbs, who wrote Chosen
Exile about racial passing, experienced this when she sat down
with a chat with her aunt. During their conversation, Hobbs
stumbled upon the revelation about a distant cousin that she
had not met nor heard of. This cousin had made
the decision to live as a white woman in California,
(02:30):
encouraged by her mother to do so. Although she was black,
her white skin allowed her to navigate society as a
white woman. Her mother believed that leaving behind the Chicago
South Side for the sun's soaked streets of Los Angeles
would open doors that would be eternally close to her
as a black woman in California. Hobbes's cousin didn dismingle
(02:52):
a notice. She embraced her new identity with full conviction.
She married a white man. She raised a family shrouded
in the illusion of whiteness, and meticulously erased every trace
of her black heritage, even from her children. Carefully constructed
reality seemed pervious until it was fractured by a discressed
call from her mother. Her father was dying and she
(03:14):
needed to say her goodbyes. Her response hissed through the facade.
I can't, Mama, I'm a white woman now. People who
chose to step over racial lines for better opportunities came
at a steep costs. You weren't just changing your appearance.
It was a cultural exile. Now let's step back to
the Alabella South. For enslaved African Americans, passing as white
(03:38):
was a rare but vital chance to escape the brutal
grip of enslavement. Yet, while adopting a white identity offered
greater opportunity than mobility, it also brought profound grief and
isolation and loss of a community. An example of this
is the children of Sally Hemmicks. Sally Hemmings was being
slaved concubined of Thomas Jefferson. She was mostly white and
(04:02):
the half sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Jefferson. Four of
her six children lived to adulthood. Jefferson allowed the two
oldest children with Sally to quietly escape in eighteen twenty two,
instead of publicly freeing them, which would have required state permission.
Jefferson formerly freed the youngest two children, and three of
(04:24):
four children would go on to blend into white society
as they grew up, and their descendants would then pass
as white. In the post emancipation world, passing would shift dramatically.
No longer a desperate did for freedom, it becomes an option,
adept a controversial one. After the initial promise of reconstruction
(04:45):
had faded and the grip of Jim Crow lost. Titan
white supremacists from the Kluk plus Klan to pair ofmilitary
groups like the Red Shirts, fought tooth and nail to
maintain the racial hierarchy. Racism would continue to mutate, finding
and insidious forms to maintain white supremacy. Passing at the time
offered a risky but sometimes liberating escape route, allowing you
(05:09):
to flee the brutal hands of racism, but stepped into
a life that was shouted in secrecy and oftentimes isolation.
As the late nineteenth early twentieth century ushered in sweeping
ways of urbanization and the Great Migration, African Americans found
themselves gravitating to bustling cities by Chicago, New York, and
(05:29):
Los Angeles. These urban hubs offered more than just economic opportunities.
They presented a chance to reshape one's identity. In these cities,
racial lines were often blurred, creating pockets of anonymity where
intense scrutiny of heritage could be momentarily evaded. As enticing
as this were, the act of white passing was steell
(05:52):
fraught with complexities as it demanded perpetual alertness and a
continuous performance of an adopted idea identity, and the ever
present anxiety of the possibility of exposure beyondset of The
Great Depression in World War II added new layers to
this narrative of racial identity. Economic devastation and the unified
(06:14):
warfront offered fleeting moments of racial camaraderie. However, the rigid
structures of racial hierarchy would still remain firmly rooted. Once again.
Passing during these times often became a desperate means of survival,
a precarious lifeline during overwhelming hardship. WB de Boys eloquently
(06:37):
captured this internal strife when he talked about the concept
of the double consciousness. The double consciousness is this dual
existence of living in a white society while staying connected
to one's blackness. The Boys would articulate this condition stating
that always looking at oneself through the eyes of a
prejudiced white society. African Americans who passed for white traveled
(07:00):
to worlds the constrained existence of the race that they
were born into and the privileged, yet pairless realm of
performed whiteness. There also were instances of something that was
called tactical passing or nine to five passing, which allowed
African Americans to momentarily cross the color lines for a
(07:23):
specific purpose, such as secured a job, gaining education, travel restriction.
This was vividly illustrated by writer Antoine Boyd, whose father
passed for white to secure employment after the Louisiana Creole
family relocated to Brooklyn during the pre World War II era.
James Wildon Johnson, in the Autobiography of an ex Colored Man,
(07:47):
delved into this notion of selective passing. The protagonist ultimately
expressed his profound regret, liking the surrender of its black
identity for the guise of whiteness. To the biblical esop
treading his birthright for a mere bowl of porch. This
sentiment reflects a broader enduring the perspective that passing its
(08:08):
white can be seen as rejection of one's heritage. Ironically,
one of Johnson's proteges, Walter Francis White, masters selective passing.
He was born with blonde hair and blue eyes and
light skin, and moved through the racially hostile South almost unnoticed,
gathering viral informations about lynchings and hate crimes that would
(08:31):
have been impossible otherwise. Journalist A. J. Bain wrote, White
thought of himself as an enigma of a black man
occupying a white body. Despite his appearance, Walter White grew
up connected to an Atlanta Black community, understanding the struggles.
This allowed him to understand the struggles and aspiration, and
(08:54):
his unique position allowed him to become a vomitable force
as executive secretary of the NAACP. White's life and worked
highlighted the complex inner play of identity and activism during
air when racial boundaries were strictly enforced. Moving forward to
the modern Civil rights movement, and this was a time
(09:16):
of seismic shifts in the American landscape, bringing on profound
changes to the struggle for racial equality. This powerful advocacy
for racial pride and justice dramatically transformed perceptions surrounding the
concept of passing as white. What was once seen as
a necessary shield against rapid racism began to be scrutinized
(09:39):
as a morally complex choice. For many, the act of
passing started to be regarded as a form of betrayal,
a denial of once heritage. Amid the collective fight against injustice,
amid these dramatic upheavals and as victories against institutional racism
began to accumulate, of passing prompted a deep reflection within
(10:03):
the Black community. For countless individuals, embracing one's black identity
became an immense source of pride and solidarity, rendering the
option of racial passing as counterproductive and increasingly obsolete. Today
in an increasingly multiracial society, the practice of passing illuminates
(10:23):
the enduring struggles and triumphs of individuals navigating the landscape
of race and identity. A fascinating phenomenon is reversed passing.
It's been documented in various ancesis of racial miss representation,
where individuals ob secure are altered their racial or ethnic background.
(10:43):
A really popular example of this can be found and
in the two thousand and eight film Tropic Thunder, in
which Robert Danna Junr, who portrays a blonde hair, blue
eyed Australian method actor, goes under plastic surgery to play
an African American soldier and a ward film. It's also
important to note that pop culture has begun to more
(11:04):
deeply acknowledge and explore this phenomenon of passing. TV shows
like Lovecraft Country and law and order. Films like Passing,
which is adapted from A KNELLA Larcen's nineteen twenty nine novel,
examine these things with unprecedented complexity and new depth. Moreover,
the roller celebrities who can pass for white can shape
(11:26):
public perceptions. When figures like Rashid Jones or Dwayne rob
Johnson openly discussed their heritage, they contribute a richer, more
nuanced understanding of race, and these discussions highlight the privilege
associated with lighter skin, but also underscore the experiences within
those racial categories. However, it's vital to approach media portrayals
(11:50):
and public discussions about white passing with some sensitivity. While
representation false's awareness, simplification of these narratives can bolster stereotypes,
the legacy of those who pass is white is a
profound and complex, and reflecting on these narratives necessitates acknowledging
the broader movements that have aimed to dismantle the various
(12:11):
systems that made these choices necessary, from size and shifts
and racial attitudes during the Civil Rights Movement to ongoing
dialogue about race and identity, it is important to embrace
one's heritage while continuing to challenge the norms that made
racial passing necessity. And I tried for a future where
(12:33):
authenticity and equality are not mere aspirations, but realities that
we all share. Thank you. This has been one of
my Black history. I'm the host country poor. This has
been a story of racial passing. If you like stories
like this, you could find more story like this at
wonmichistory dot com. I like all my subscribers. Without you,
none of this could be possible. I love you all
(12:53):
and peace
Imagine your standing in the swelt during heat nineteen forties Alabama,
traveling hundreds of miles to your brother's wedding, you all
met with severe racism, only to later return donning a
turban and adopting an accent. Suddenly you transformed from a
pressed black man to a South Asian Indian who has
(00:22):
suddenly treated with some respect and courtesy. This was the
reality of Breverend Jesse Roulay. His story was wildly publicized
and even included on a front page of The New
York Times. In November nineteen forty seven, The Lotus Lewis,
a Harlem Renaissance writer and editor, pointed out the irony
(00:42):
of Roulay's experiment in the Interracial Review. It highlighted the
folly and the injustice of racial discrimination. See, it wasn't
that long ago that the shade of your skin could
dictate your entire life trajectory. So many black of brown
individuals had European fees, features such as the noses, lighter hair,
(01:03):
lighter skin, or straightened hair would make the decision to
pass themselves as white. And today we're going to talk
about it. You like stories like this, You can buy
more stories like this at one michistory dot com. If
you like what the challenge, you can do some on
by a coffee Patreon page and the description below. But
what I further do? Let's get started. Racial passing occurs
(01:23):
when a person who is classified as a member of
a racial group is accepted or passes as a member
of another racial group. Historically, the term was used primarily
in the United States to describe a black or brown
person of multi racial ancestry who assimilated into the white
majority to escape legal and social conventions of racial discrimination.
(01:45):
But it was never as simple as simply proclaiming your whiteness.
It meant renouncing your hair, that completely breaking away from
your family, your community, your cultural identity, all in exchange
for the opportunities that you could never sniff other Yet
you will constantly live in fear that one day you
would be exposed discovered. It could mean violence, legal trouble,
(02:08):
and social ostracization. Stanford historian Alison Hobbs, who wrote Chosen
Exile about racial passing, experienced this when she sat down
with a chat with her aunt. During their conversation, Hobbs
stumbled upon the revelation about a distant cousin that she
had not met nor heard of. This cousin had made
the decision to live as a white woman in California,
(02:30):
encouraged by her mother to do so. Although she was black,
her white skin allowed her to navigate society as a
white woman. Her mother believed that leaving behind the Chicago
South Side for the sun's soaked streets of Los Angeles
would open doors that would be eternally close to her
as a black woman in California. Hobbes's cousin didn dismingle
(02:52):
a notice. She embraced her new identity with full conviction.
She married a white man. She raised a family shrouded
in the illusion of whiteness, and meticulously erased every trace
of her black heritage, even from her children. Carefully constructed
reality seemed pervious until it was fractured by a discressed
call from her mother. Her father was dying and she
(03:14):
needed to say her goodbyes. Her response hissed through the facade.
I can't, Mama, I'm a white woman now. People who
chose to step over racial lines for better opportunities came
at a steep costs. You weren't just changing your appearance.
It was a cultural exile. Now let's step back to
the Alabella South. For enslaved African Americans, passing as white
(03:38):
was a rare but vital chance to escape the brutal
grip of enslavement. Yet, while adopting a white identity offered
greater opportunity than mobility, it also brought profound grief and
isolation and loss of a community. An example of this
is the children of Sally Hemmicks. Sally Hemmings was being
slaved concubined of Thomas Jefferson. She was mostly white and
(04:02):
the half sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Jefferson. Four of
her six children lived to adulthood. Jefferson allowed the two
oldest children with Sally to quietly escape in eighteen twenty two,
instead of publicly freeing them, which would have required state permission.
Jefferson formerly freed the youngest two children, and three of
(04:24):
four children would go on to blend into white society
as they grew up, and their descendants would then pass
as white. In the post emancipation world, passing would shift dramatically.
No longer a desperate did for freedom, it becomes an option,
adept a controversial one. After the initial promise of reconstruction
(04:45):
had faded and the grip of Jim Crow lost. Titan
white supremacists from the Kluk plus Klan to pair ofmilitary
groups like the Red Shirts, fought tooth and nail to
maintain the racial hierarchy. Racism would continue to mutate, finding
and insidious forms to maintain white supremacy. Passing at the time
offered a risky but sometimes liberating escape route, allowing you
(05:09):
to flee the brutal hands of racism, but stepped into
a life that was shouted in secrecy and oftentimes isolation.
As the late nineteenth early twentieth century ushered in sweeping
ways of urbanization and the Great Migration, African Americans found
themselves gravitating to bustling cities by Chicago, New York, and
(05:29):
Los Angeles. These urban hubs offered more than just economic opportunities.
They presented a chance to reshape one's identity. In these cities,
racial lines were often blurred, creating pockets of anonymity where
intense scrutiny of heritage could be momentarily evaded. As enticing
as this were, the act of white passing was steell
(05:52):
fraught with complexities as it demanded perpetual alertness and a
continuous performance of an adopted idea identity, and the ever
present anxiety of the possibility of exposure beyondset of The
Great Depression in World War II added new layers to
this narrative of racial identity. Economic devastation and the unified
(06:14):
warfront offered fleeting moments of racial camaraderie. However, the rigid
structures of racial hierarchy would still remain firmly rooted. Once again.
Passing during these times often became a desperate means of survival,
a precarious lifeline during overwhelming hardship. WB de Boys eloquently
(06:37):
captured this internal strife when he talked about the concept
of the double consciousness. The double consciousness is this dual
existence of living in a white society while staying connected
to one's blackness. The Boys would articulate this condition stating
that always looking at oneself through the eyes of a
prejudiced white society. African Americans who passed for white traveled
(07:00):
to worlds the constrained existence of the race that they
were born into and the privileged, yet pairless realm of
performed whiteness. There also were instances of something that was
called tactical passing or nine to five passing, which allowed
African Americans to momentarily cross the color lines for a
(07:23):
specific purpose, such as secured a job, gaining education, travel restriction.
This was vividly illustrated by writer Antoine Boyd, whose father
passed for white to secure employment after the Louisiana Creole
family relocated to Brooklyn during the pre World War II era.
James Wildon Johnson, in the Autobiography of an ex Colored Man,
(07:47):
delved into this notion of selective passing. The protagonist ultimately
expressed his profound regret, liking the surrender of its black
identity for the guise of whiteness. To the biblical esop
treading his birthright for a mere bowl of porch. This
sentiment reflects a broader enduring the perspective that passing its
(08:08):
white can be seen as rejection of one's heritage. Ironically,
one of Johnson's proteges, Walter Francis White, masters selective passing.
He was born with blonde hair and blue eyes and
light skin, and moved through the racially hostile South almost unnoticed,
gathering viral informations about lynchings and hate crimes that would
(08:31):
have been impossible otherwise. Journalist A. J. Bain wrote, White
thought of himself as an enigma of a black man
occupying a white body. Despite his appearance, Walter White grew
up connected to an Atlanta Black community, understanding the struggles.
This allowed him to understand the struggles and aspiration, and
(08:54):
his unique position allowed him to become a vomitable force
as executive secretary of the NAACP. White's life and worked
highlighted the complex inner play of identity and activism during
air when racial boundaries were strictly enforced. Moving forward to
the modern Civil rights movement, and this was a time
(09:16):
of seismic shifts in the American landscape, bringing on profound
changes to the struggle for racial equality. This powerful advocacy
for racial pride and justice dramatically transformed perceptions surrounding the
concept of passing as white. What was once seen as
a necessary shield against rapid racism began to be scrutinized
(09:39):
as a morally complex choice. For many, the act of
passing started to be regarded as a form of betrayal,
a denial of once heritage. Amid the collective fight against injustice,
amid these dramatic upheavals and as victories against institutional racism
began to accumulate, of passing prompted a deep reflection within
(10:03):
the Black community. For countless individuals, embracing one's black identity
became an immense source of pride and solidarity, rendering the
option of racial passing as counterproductive and increasingly obsolete. Today
in an increasingly multiracial society, the practice of passing illuminates
(10:23):
the enduring struggles and triumphs of individuals navigating the landscape
of race and identity. A fascinating phenomenon is reversed passing.
It's been documented in various ancesis of racial miss representation,
where individuals ob secure are altered their racial or ethnic background.
(10:43):
A really popular example of this can be found and
in the two thousand and eight film Tropic Thunder, in
which Robert Danna Junr, who portrays a blonde hair, blue
eyed Australian method actor, goes under plastic surgery to play
an African American soldier and a ward film. It's also
important to note that pop culture has begun to more
(11:04):
deeply acknowledge and explore this phenomenon of passing. TV shows
like Lovecraft Country and law and order. Films like Passing,
which is adapted from A KNELLA Larcen's nineteen twenty nine novel,
examine these things with unprecedented complexity and new depth. Moreover,
the roller celebrities who can pass for white can shape
(11:26):
public perceptions. When figures like Rashid Jones or Dwayne rob
Johnson openly discussed their heritage, they contribute a richer, more
nuanced understanding of race, and these discussions highlight the privilege
associated with lighter skin, but also underscore the experiences within
those racial categories. However, it's vital to approach media portrayals
(11:50):
and public discussions about white passing with some sensitivity. While
representation false's awareness, simplification of these narratives can bolster stereotypes,
the legacy of those who pass is white is a
profound and complex, and reflecting on these narratives necessitates acknowledging
the broader movements that have aimed to dismantle the various
(12:11):
systems that made these choices necessary, from size and shifts
and racial attitudes during the Civil Rights Movement to ongoing
dialogue about race and identity, it is important to embrace
one's heritage while continuing to challenge the norms that made
racial passing necessity. And I tried for a future where
(12:33):
authenticity and equality are not mere aspirations, but realities that
we all share. Thank you. This has been one of
my Black history. I'm the host country poor. This has
been a story of racial passing. If you like stories
like this, you could find more story like this at
wonmichistory dot com. I like all my subscribers. Without you,
none of this could be possible. I love you all
(12:53):
and peace
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